


Just Once

by Aviss



Category: Naruto
Genre: First Time, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 23:29:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10449969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviss/pseuds/Aviss
Summary: Iruka should know better than to believe everything he hears.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [houkouonchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/houkouonchi/gifts).



> Happy belated birthday my friend! It's not much, but I hope you like it.

Iruka has heard the rumours before. It's impossible not to; shinobi are gossipy by nature, and in the downtime between missions they indulge in their favourite pastime, mainly talking about everyone around them and poking their noses into everyone else's business. As much as it pains him to admit it, Iruka is not even that different from everyone else, though he isn't as vicious as some. He's curious by nature, but takes everything with a grain of salt and never passes judgment. That's as good as it gets in a shinobi village. 

This rumor in particular is not new, not even exciting enough to merit more than a few whispered mentions. _Kakashi's back from his mission, and someone's asked him out._

Hatake Kakashi's famous in the village for many reasons, his fighting skills and genius the most prominent of them. He's infamous all around Fire Country because of them. He's loyal, and funny, and incredibly interesting to be around, something Iruka has only discovered in the past few months. And, according to the grapevine, he's also an incredibly skilled lover. The stories vary in that, for some he's gentle and caring, for others strong and forceful. Everyone agrees that he's the absolute best anyone could have. 

And anyone could have him, _just onc_ e, they only need to ask. 

Kakashi never turns anyone down and never asks anyone out himself. And he never, ever, beds the same person twice. 

Iruka's almost curious enough to ask, has been for some time, but something always stops him. He finds Kakashi attractive, he's not blind and it's easy to see that even with the mask he's one of the most interesting men around. Iruka would have had no problem spending one night, no strings attached, with Kakashi. He's all for a bit of fun between consenting adults, and if one listens to the whispers, fun is Kakashi's middle name. That was before he got to know him, though. Before the birthday party at Gemma's house where they managed to drink everyone under the table and spent the rest of the night doodling ridiculous things on their unconscious friend's faces and laughing drunkenly about it. Before they met casually on the street one night and ended up together at Ichiraku's, trading amusing anecdotes about Naruto and consuming enough food the brat would have been proud. Before they started doing that regularly when their schedules allowed, opening up to each other more and more and cementing a friendship neither had expected but both cherished. 

Before the flare of jealousy at the idea of Kakashi and someone else spending the night together. 

It had completely slipped his mind during those months, and now that it's staring him on the face, the fact that Kakashi has and will sleep with anyone but seems to be averse to relationships hits him like a slap. Because this is the reason Iruka has never asked him before. He just knows, and has apparently always known, that just once would never be enough. 

He's all for a bit of fun, true, but in this case he wants more. Much more. And if he asks Kakashi, one night's all he will ever get. 

What Iruka needs to do is get some distance, maybe date for a bit, and convince himself that he's happy with the friendship he has. 

It can't be so difficult, can it?

…

Kakashi looks at the note in his hand and frowns. It's from Iruka, cancelling their weekly ramen night for no good reason. He's not going on a mission or has been called on an emergency, and as far as he knows Naruto's not back in Konoha, which are the usual, _the only reasons_ they'd ever had to cancel before. Instead the note is short and to the point: _Can't make it tonight, got a date. Raincheck?_

It's the casualness of it what bothers Kakashi, not the fact that he's been stood up for a date of all things. He sits in his kitchen, the bag with Ichiraku's take out on the counter and a scowl on his face. He's not really hungry, after all. 

No, the sour feeling in his stomach has nothing to do with hunger; if Kakashi didn't know any better, he'd call it jealousy. It can't be that, though; Iruka and he are not in any kind of relationship, they're just friends, and friends don't get jealous when their friends get lucky, they're happy for them. And besides, Kakashi's never wanted a relationship; relationships are messy and complicated, everything he has always avoided considering his life and job are messy and complicated enough.

So no, it can't be jealousy, but Kakashi can't find another name for it.

…

"I've heard you went on a date last night."

Iruka looks up from the report he's checking at Kotetsu's voice. The mission desk is almost empty this early in the morning, most shinobi electing to sleep late when they are not on missions, and it's Iruka's favourite time to check the reports handed the previous day, or even mark the homework from the previous week if he still has some pending. Kotetsu though, he rarely has anything to do except gossip when he's on the early shift. 

"Where did you hear that?" He asks, curious as how he has become gossiping material so quickly. 

"Izumo saw you having dinner with Yasui-san, and since Kakashi was in town and free, but you were not with him, it was the logical conclusion." Kotetsu elaborates with a satisfied smile at their cleverness. "So, how was it?"

"It was good," he lies, because he's not about to say he spent the entire date comparing Yasui to Kakashi, and Yasui came up way too short on almost every point. It was unfair of Iruka to do it, and he had known at the time. Yasui's a nice and reasonably attractive man, though maybe a bit too serious for Iruka's taste, and it wasn't his fault that he didn't have the ability to follow Iruka's sometimes twisting conversations. Or that he didn't have a sharp wit and a sharper tongue. Or that he didn't find funny some of the anecdotes about Iruka's crazy students. Or that Iruka didn't feel any spark when they kissed goodbye.

Kotetsu's staring at him with an incredulous expression. "Wow, you're an awful liar," he laughs. "You forget that I know him, and he might be handsome, but he's dull."

Iruka resists the urge to laugh at his friend's accurate opinion. "He wasn't that bad," he insists. Except he was, and the person he's trying to convince is not Kotetsu. He gave up his ramen night with Kakashi for the date, after all, at the very least it should have been good enough for him to stop thinking about Kakashi for the duration. 

"Are you going to see him again?"

He doesn't have to consider the answer for long. "No."

"Oh yeah, I can see you had a great time." Kotetsu's look tells him everything he needs to say about it. "Just don't try to convince anyone else of it."

Iruka opens his mouth to protest, but closes it when he hears someone entering the mission room. He looks at the door and swears inwardly. Of course it had to be him. 

"You shouldn't have stood me up," Kakashi says, walking into the mission room with perfect timing, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. Iruka narrows his eyes at him, fighting a blush at Kakashi's words. "You'd have had a lot more fun with me." He walks up to Iruka's desk and hands him the cup. 

"Hey, where's my coffee?" "What are you doing awake so early?" Kotetsu's and Iruka's voices overlap, and Kakashi smiles under his mask. 

"Sorry, I like him more than you." He turns to look at Iruka again, ignoring Kotetsu's mock-wounded expression. "Got a mission, will be out for a couple of weeks, but once I'm back I'm cashing in that rain check." He leans forward, until his face is close enough to Iruka's that he can almost feel the breath on his skin. "You owe me a ramen dinner."

For an instant Iruka can't breathe, his cheeks feeling hot, and curses his newly found awareness of his crush. When Kakashi turns away he has a mission scroll in his hand. "Come back in one piece to collect it," he calls after him, and Kakashi gives him a lazy wave over his head on the way out of the door. 

"You can ask him out, you know." Kotetsu says, and Iruka feels the heat spreading to his entire face. "He'll say yes."

He knows. And that's the problem.

Iruka looks down to his task and refuses to answer, or even think about it. 

…

Kakashi's in much better spirits when he leaves the mission room than when he woke to the ANBU courier in the morning, though he's usually happy to get a mission after spending a couple of weeks of downtime in the village.

He was still irritated about the missed dinner, and had considered leaving without saying anything to Iruka, not sure he would be able to see him satisfied and glowing after a great date, and still tell himself the twisting feeling in his gut isn't jealousy. He's glad he decided to stop by and say goodbye, the overheard conversation putting the subject to rest; the date was so bad Iruka can't lie convincingly to Kotetsu, the most guileless shinobi after Gai, and Kakashi has a harder time lying to himself at the relief he feels.

So maybe it _is_ jealousy, he thinks on the way to the rendezvous point where the team he's going to lead is already waiting for him. He's always known that Iruka's attractive, had even wondered idly a couple of times what it would be to spend the night with him. That was before they became friends, though. Now that he knows him, it's not just the one night he would spend with Iruka. 

The whole thing with the _just once_ rumour has always amused him. He can't even remember how it started, but it never bothered him enough to put a stop to it; while it is true that he has never rejected anyone, that's because Kakashi finds many things attractive in people besides the physical, and nobody he didn't like had ever asked. He's all in for some casual fun between consenting adults, and in spite of what people might have believed, it wasn't that many proposals he received. 

He hadn't wanted a relationship before, that part is true, and had not met anyone yet he wanted enough to put himself out there and ask them out.

But now he thinks he has. And he is more than ready to do the asking himself.

...

Kakashi's waiting for him outside his flat when Iruka arrives after his day in the Academy. 

He greets him with a wide smile, a warm feeling spreading inside him while they climb up the stairs to his floor. He opens the door and drops his bag on top of the coffee table before heading to the kitchen to put on the kettle. He wasn't expecting Kakashi today; they haven't seen each other since that morning in the mission room, and his return date from the last mission was uncertain. 

He's not unwelcome, though. 

For the past week and a half Iruka has gone on dates most nights, his friends apparently on a campaign to set him up with any available shinobi they know, and while they weren't all bad, they only served to remind him how much he missed having dinner with Kakashi. 

He has it bad, he knows this, but he really doesn't care.

"I didn't know you were back," Iruka says from the kitchen, fiddling with the cups while he waits for the water to boil. "I take it your mission went well."

"It was easy," Kakashi says, right behind him. "I got back this morning, I even turned in my report early."

Iruka turns at that, grinning. " _And I missed it._ I bet Izumo almost died of shock."

"He was quite surprised," Kakashi says easily, taking the cup Iruka offers him. "Not as surprised as he was when Mariko-san asked me out and turned her down, though. I thought his eyes were going to pop out." He pulls down his mask to take a sip and Iruka can do nothing but stare, his entire body freezing in shock. Kakashi's in his kitchen, calmly drinking his tea as if he has not just turned Iruka's world upside down with a simple gesture. In spite of all the months of friendship and dinners and late night conversations, this is the first time Kakashi has bared his face to him, knows it's not something he does even with the people he sleeps with.

Iruka doesn't know what to say; Kakashi's as handsome as Iruka had imagined, all pale skin and delicate features, sharp cheekbones and defined jaw, the vertical scar crossing his left eye and cheek the only imperfection on the beautiful face.

He wants to point out what Kakashi has done, remark the moment with some sort of comment, but then his mind catches up with the rest of what Kakashi has said. "You turned her down?"

Kakashi smiles, more like a smirk, and Iruka is too stunned to do anything but gape. "Yes."

"Why?"

A shrug. "I didn't feel like it, I had something else I wanted to do."

Iruka can't understand it, hopes it means more than Kakashi just being tired after a mission. "But you never have before."

"I've never had a reason to refuse uncomplicated sex before, but I am allowed to." Kakashi turns and leaves the kitchen at that, Iruka staring numbly at the empty space. 

He follows once he recovers the ability to move; Kakashi's sitting on the couch, his tea cup on the coffee table, his body relaxed and leaning slightly sideways, a clear indication of where he expects or hopes Iruka will sit. Still feeling wrong-footed, Iruka sits on the furthest side of the couch, putting his own tea on the table and turning to face Kakashi. He can't help the way he gets distracted once again observing Kakashi's face, drinking in every tiny detail like the crinkles around the wide mouth, or the beauty mark under the lush lips. 

"Like what you see, Iruka?" Kakashi asks once the silence has gone long enough that it has become awkward.

It takes Iruka a few seconds to notice that Kakashi's smiling, his tone flirtatious, and he opens his mouth to deflect before it hits him. Kakashi's sitting on his couch, barefaced, _flirting with him_. As far as Iruka knows this is not something he does, has never heard a whisper about Kakashi coming on to anyone. He closes his mouth again, hoping he's not misread the situation. "Yes, yes I do," he finally says, a breathless quality in his voice that surprises him. 

Kakashi's smile, which had begun to fade at Iruka's silence, spreads, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Enough to come closer? I promise not to bite, at least not on the first date."

"Does that mean there will be a second one?" Iruka can't help but ask as he scoots closer to Kakashi, but still not close enough to touch. 

Kakashi sighs, amused and exasperated at the same time. "You know that nonsense about a rule and only sleeping with people once didn't come from me, don't you?"

Somehow Iruka didn't, and can't believe it has taken him this long to realize that Kakashi's not the kind of person to set rules in his private life. "It didn't?" He asks advancing another couple of inches. 

Kakashi eyes the space between them but doesn't move. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Iruka, much less in a shinobi village. I have not turned anyone down before because I had no reason to, and had not asked anyone out before because I had not found anyone I wanted enough to."

Is that simple word, _before_ , that takes Iruka's breath again, and he moves almost unconsciously closer. "Is that what you're doing, asking me out?"

Kakashi smiles impishly. "No, I'm seducing you." He looks pointedly at the distance still separating them. "Is it working?"

Iruka laughs at that. This is what was missing in all the dates he has gone to, this easy banter and the almost magnetic attraction he feels when looking at Kakashi. Of all the men and women he has dated these past weeks none of them have made Iruka feel like jumping them, nor have they made him laugh with just a few words and a look. They were attractive, and interesting, and a couple were even funny, but none of them were Kakashi. 

"What do you think?" he asks, still chuckling. 

"That you are still too far away," Kakashi says, though he isn't. There is barely any space between them, if Iruka was bit closer he would feel the heat coming off Kakashi's body. 

"How close is close enough?" Iruka moves a scant inch under Kakashi's amused look. "Like this?"

"No."

One more inch. "This?"

Kakashi shakes his head and pats his thighs with and eager look. "This is close enough for now."

"For now?" Iruka wastes no time climbing on top of Kakashi, straddling his legs but leaving enough space between their fronts. He wants to tease Kakashi and crawl inside of him at the same time, but he's having way too much fun with the teasing, and Kakashi doesn't look like he minds.

Kakashi puts his arms around Iruka, one of his hands pressed against his shoulder blades, the other on the small of his back, and pushes until Iruka leans forward. " _For now_ , later I'll want you even closer to me," he drops a sweet kiss on Iruka's mouth, just a brief peck before he moves up his jaw. "Later, I'll want you inside."

Iruka shudders and grabs Kakashi's head at that, keeping it steady for him to kiss his mouth deeply, parting his lips with his tongue and slipping it inside, tasting the faintly bitter traces of the tea and the sweetness that is Kakashi himself. Kakashi is not idle either, his lips moving against Iruka's, his tongue sliding against Iruka's, his hands roaming up and down his back as he presses him closer still until they are touching everywhere, their bodies flush against each other. They kiss unhurriedly but deeply, hungrily discovering what works for them, what makes Kakashi groan and push against Iruka's body eagerly, which touches make Iruka tremble and gasp, letting the arousal build between them slowly, touching everywhere they can reach but with no rush to move things forward. 

He loses himself in the feeling of it, the slow build up and the rightness that is sitting on Kakashi's lap kissing him, until a loud rumbling noise startles them both. Iruka leans back, separating a bit from Kakashi who is flushing, the tips of his ears delightfully pink. 

"Hungry?" Iruka chuckles, and Kakashi rubs the back on his neck in an uncharacteristic embarrassed gesture. 

"Famished, I was actually here to invite you out for dinner," Kakashi confesses, and Iruka has to lean down and kiss him again just for that. "We went straight to the dessert, though." He doesn't sound unhappy about it, and Iruka is about to continue kissing him when his stomach rumbles again. 

He stands up from his lap. "Come on, let's get some food into you." Iruka heads to the kitchen, going through the contents of his fridge in his head. He turns his head to look at Kakashi, still sprawled on the couch. "You're going to need the energy later."

…

Later, Kakashi's not the one who bites on the first date, not that he is going to complain. 

They have dinner first, because Kakashi's really starving and his stomach has the worst possible timing in the world, but dinner is just a quickly thrown together snack while they lean against the kitchen counter, sharing touches and salty kisses, talking between bites about nothing important, the tension of soon to be fulfilled arousal heavy in the air. It's the most comfortable Kakashi has ever been with another person, and he can't remember why he believed relationships were complicated. 

This, here, is the easiest thing in the world.

They don't bother with washing up.

Later, Kakashi learns that once Iruka puts his entire focus on something, be that his class lessons or getting Kakashi to completely lose his mind, he's methodical and ruthless. 

But again, not complaining. 

Once he has decided to stop teasing, Iruka has Kakashi naked and panting on the bed in no time, harder than he can remember ever being before. Iruka's determined to learn every inch of Kakashi's body by touch and by taste, following the path traced by his fingers down Kakashi's neck and chest with lips and teeth. Kakashi can feel the marks blooming on his pale skin, bruises sucked on his neck, lines scratched on his side, and even a bite, not hard enough for the mark to last more than a few seconds, right under his left nipple. He moans loud enough for the neighbours to complain at that one. 

"I thought we said no biting," he says, hands tangled on Iruka's head, not guiding, just luxuriating on the feeling of that curtain of silky hair between his fingers.

"That was you, " Iruka replies, moving to his other nipple and just kissing it softly. "I can stop if you want me to." He bites before waiting for a reply, and Kakashi's obvious answer devolves into a wordless moan. "Or not."

Later, Kakashi finds how Iruka laughs once he's made Kakashi desperate enough with his leisure exploration to flip them on the bed and climb on top of him, too eager to bother with more than the barest minimum of preparation before sinking down on his cock, relishing the burn and the startled gasp he elicits from Iruka, the hard press of his fingertips on his hips as he moves. Iruka pushes up and shifts them minutely until he finds the perfect position to make Kakashi falter, and then he thrust up with unerring accuracy until Kakashi is almost mindless with need, head thrown back in pleasure, one hand curled around his own cock and stroking himself to completion. Iruka surges up, stilling inside of him and coming, kissing his slack mouth, shuddering through his own orgasm. 

Later, they lay on the bed, naked and sated, and still kissing and touching each other. Kakashi knows they need to move, need to clean before the pleasant feeling becomes disgusting and sticky, but he's too lazy to move. 

Iruka looks at him fondly, lips kiss swollen and a smiling. "Was that close enough for you?" he asks, drowsy. 

"It was perfect." He leans forward and kisses Iruka's mouth, just because it's here and he can do it as much as he wants. 

"I'll have to judge that by myself," Iruka says, closing his eyes and burrowing against Kakashi's body. "I want you that close to me too."

Kakashi smiles. "Later. Tomorrow." He closes his eyes and falls asleep in the next breath.

Later, the next morning, they wake up stuck together and gross, but it's worth it just by the way they laugh on the way to the shower, caring less about morning breath than morning kisses. 

…

"So you finally asked Kakashi out?"

Iruka looks up from the report he's reading to see Gemma's curious face peering down at him. Every single person in the mission desk seems to be fixated on him, even the people pretending to be doing something else is listening.

Bored gossiping shinobi. 

They knew this was going to happen the moment people saw the giant bruise Kakashi sucked on Iruka's neck, too high for the uniform collar to cover it. Everyone knows Iruka's not been on another date since Kakashi came back from his mission, there are not many candidates who could have put that mark there. It's a perfect match to the one that's been adorning Kakashi's neck since the first time they had slept together, and that would be staying there for a long, long time as far as Iruka's concerned. He has the feeling his hickey is also there to stay, though he doesn't have the benefit of a mask to cover it.

"No, I didn't," he says, once the silence has gone long enough for his response to carry everywhere in the room. 

"But--" Gemma splutters, and that is the moment Kakashi chooses to arrive at the mission room. Iruka wouldn't put it past him to have been listening for the perfect cue, everyone in the room turning to stare at him. 

"Are you finished, Iruka?" Kakashi asks, standing next to the bewildered Gemma, and Iruka makes a show of looking at the time and putting the scroll back on the drawer. 

"Yes, I am." He locks his drawer and steps around the desk to join Kakashi. "Home, or out for dinner?"

Kakashi smiles under the mask, soft and amused, perfectly aware they have an audience. "Home."

"Perfect." Iruka smiles at him, and then turns a bit and looks at Gemma. "I didn't. _He did_."

They leave together, shoulders brushing as they head to Iruka's house, the noise of everyone in the room speaking at the same time following them out. 

...


End file.
